Biofortification Of Millets

All human nutrition needs must be met from the food that is consumed. Malnutrition, both under and over-nutrition leading to obesity are the results of days functional food systems that cannot supply all the nutrients and health-promoting factors. The human food pyramid suggests on the food items that need to be consumed in different proportions as per the body requirements of various nutrients. Micronutrients malnutrition, also known as ‘hidden hunger’ primarily resulting from diets poor in bio-available vitamins and minerals, causes blindness and anaemia (even death). Three of the most widespread micronutrient deficiencies are that of iron, zinc, and vitamin A.

Biofortification- a powerful intervention tool:

Food fortification and diet supplementation with micronutrients can directly facilitate easing of micronutrient malnutrition to some extent. But these interventions require infrastructure, sophisticated processing techniques and product control, purchasing power, or access to markets and health care systems for their success, and hence cannot reach the poor population in the remote rural areas.

Biofortification provides a comparatively cost-effective, sustainable and long term means of delivering more micronutrients to people with poor access to markets or health care system. Consumption of micronutrients-enriched staple plant foods can significantly improve the nutrients the target population. Biofortification is a scientific method for improve the nutritional value of food already consumed by those suffering from hidden hunger. Biofortified cultivarscan be obtained through conventional breeding when sufficient genetic variability for micronutrients is present in the target crop or by exploiting transgressive segregation or heterosis. In the absence of such variability genetic engineering tools must be explored.

Advantages:

The Green Revolution and related movements in India were focussed on eradicating hunger from the country. As a result of the Green Revolution, the country has increased the production of food grains and is largely self-sufficient. There are various schemes and measures undertaken by the government to ensure that the population gets enough food intake in terms of the calorific value.

However, the current focus is on increasing the nutrient content of the food intake. Despite having ‘enough to eat’, many people are not getting enough nutrients in their food intake. This causes the problem of ‘hidden hunger’.

Hidden hunger is the term used to describe the deficiency of micronutrients such as zinc and iron.

According to many researchers, hidden hunger can be solved by biofortifying food crops.

• Biofortification helps in achieving overall health improvement in the people.
• Such crops are more resilient to diseases, pests, droughts, etc. and provide better yields.
• It offers a food-based, sustainable and low-dose alternative to iron supplements.
• It has the potential to reach the poorest section of society (who cannot afford food supplements) and will also benefit farmers.
• It is highly cost-effective since once the initial research is done, the process can be easily replicated and scaled.
• Biofortification done through non-genetically modified methods (like traditional plant breeding done in India) is a better alternative then introducing GM crops that face implementation barriers.
• In a country such as India, that faces huge nutritional challenges, biofortification is a sustainable, cost-effective method that can help resolve this challenge.
• Various studies and reports show that India faces a huge challenge in the form of undernutrition.
• Anaemia and iron deficiency are problems pervading society especially the economically weaker sections and women.